Mouchalagane River Explained

Mouchalagane River
Pushpin Map:Quebec#Canada
Subdivision Type1:Country
Subdivision Name1:Canada
Subdivision Type2:Province
Subdivision Name2:Quebec
Subdivision Type3:Region
Subdivision Name3:Côte-Nord
Subdivision Name4:Caniapiscau
Subdivision Type5:Unorganized territory
Subdivision Name5:Rivière-Mouchalagane
Mouth:Manicouagan Reservoir

The Mouchalagane River (French: '''Rivière Mouchalagane''') is a river in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. It feeds the Manicouagan Reservoir.

Hydrology

The Mouchalagane river is in the unorganized territory of Rivière-Mouchalagane, in the Regional county municipality of Caniapiscau in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec.It originates in Lake Sommet and Lake Itomanis.It flows south for to the Manicouagan Reservoir.Tributaries include the Labadie, Tuk and Pipichicau rivers.The upper portion of the river has many rapids.In its lower it widens to form the western arm of the reservoir, formerly Lake Manicouagan.

Name

The name is of Innu origin and comes from ouragane, meaning "dish or bowl of bark", and moucha meaning "big". However, a toponym survey conducted in 1979 reported that the Innu name used to describe the lake was Mûshaualâkan, which means "to stretch out the nets to open waters". shows R. Moucha'ouragane on his map of the Domaine en Canada (1731) and the explorer Albert Peter Low mentioned Mouchalagan River in 1895.